Motherboard drivers connect computer hardware and software systems for smooth operation. They can be found from the manufacturer and cover various functions, including drive connections, system ports, built-in networking and audio, and integrated video. Updating drivers can improve performance.
A computer motherboard is a piece of hardware that connects all the different areas of a computer together. A driver is a piece of software that connects a computer’s hardware systems to its software systems. Since both the motherboard and computer drivers are so important, motherboard drivers are essential for a smooth running computer. In general, you can find motherboard drivers from the motherboard manufacturer or, if the system came pre-built, from the computer manufacturer.
In most cases, a completely bare motherboard will only have one driver for the chipset. The chipset helps a computer transfer information from various components quickly and efficiently. This driver should be kept as up-to-date as possible. Very few modern motherboards have so few features. In many cases, motherboard drivers cover a wide range of functions built into the computer system. While the motherboard and drivers are important, these driver updates have a number of necessities.
Some motherboard drivers refer to the computer drive connections. These drivers are called integrated drive electronics (IDE); advanced technology serial link (SATA); and redundant array of independent disks (RAID); have variable importance. In most cases, the updates to these drivers are minor and most users won’t notice a difference. Occasionally, however, updating these drivers can improve drive system transfer time, which is very noticeable.
Motherboards may also offer system port driver updates. These updates, typically to FireWire or Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, are of similar importance to drive updates. While most of the time they won’t do much, sometimes they will do much.
Other common motherboard drivers affect the built-in features of the computer. Many modern motherboards have built-in networking and audio capabilities. These areas are covered by local area network (LAN) drivers and audio drivers. In most cases, these drivers aren’t important; an update typically has no direct impact on system performance. While there is no harm in updating them, many users only update them when there is a problem with their current drivers.
Another common driver is for integrated video. This type of driver is common on laptops, but much less so on desktops. This driver is usually available from the card manufacturer and the video chip manufacturer. The update can be very important if your system uses graphics-intensive functions such as video editing, rendering or gaming. If your system doesn’t use any of these features, upgrading is much less important.
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